The nepotism scandal in Garden Grove has escalated of late with their City Manager, Matthew J. Fertal, suddenly resigning this week. Garden Grove Mayor Bruce Broadwater, who lost his reelection campaign in the November General Election, may have also paid the price for the nepotism scheme, which involved the Garden Grove Fire Department hiring his son, although he was not well qualified and he was chosen over other more qualified applicants.

On top of all that, the Garden Grove Fire Chief, David Barlag, resigned after a vote of no confidence from firefighters, but he gets to stay on the city payroll for two more years at full salary, while taxpayers foot the bill for both an interim fire chief an executive search for his replacement, according to the Voice of OC.

The Garden Grove City Council includes: Chris Phan, Kris Beard, Dina Nguyen, and Steve Jones. Nguyen is leaving the Council this year and will be replaced by Phat Bui, who won in the November General Election.

Tony Flores, a Garden Grove resident and community activist, believes that the entire Garden Grove City Council could be in big trouble because of this nepotism scandal. He sent me the following charges in an email today: Continue reading→

November 24, 2014 – Garden Grove Mayor Bruce Broadwater has ended the recount in the City of Garden Grove mayoral contest. The recount began this morning and ended this evening following a full day of manually recounting ballots. Mr. Broadwater made the original request following the certification of the election.

During the recount nearly 2,500 vote-by-mail ballots were recounted in ten precincts. There were no changes to the vote totals. The original certification of the ballots cast remains as the official certification. The ballots cast and vote totals for the City of Garden Grove can be found in the “Results” section at ocvote.com Continue reading→

Garden Grove, California – Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee Bao Nguyen took the lead in the race for Garden Grove Mayor today. Nguyen, who trailed Mayor Bruce Broadwater by 357 votes on election night, has steadily gained ground as late absentee and provisional ballots have been tabulated. As of today’s update, Nguyen leads Broadwater by 7 votes.

In response to the results, Nguyen released the following statement: Continue reading→

Garden Grove, California – Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee and Mayoral candidate Bao Nguyen released the following statement today on the transfer and possible pay raise that has been allocated to the son of Mayor Bruce Broadwater.

The transfer and potential pay raise given to Mayor Bruce Broadwater’s son is an affront to every taxpayer in Garden Grove. The continued employment of the Mayor’s son by our city is an embarrassment and indicative of the level of corruption and nepotism that exists at City Hall. Bruce Broadwater’s silence on this issue is deafening and shameful. I am calling on Mayor Bruce Broadwater to immediately explain the role he played in the hiring and continued employment of his son in the fire department. Continue reading→

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jose Solorio on a wide variety of important policy issues over the last 15 years,” said Garden Grove Mayor Bruce Broadwater.” I have found him to be an independent minded, commonsense and pragmatic leader who isn’t afraid to buck the political establishment and do the right thing. I enthusiastically support him for State Senate.” Continue reading→

BAO NGUYEN CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO EMPLOYMENT OF BRUCE BROADWATER’S SON AS A GARDEN GROVE FIREFIGHTER

Garden Grove, California – Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee and Mayoral candidate Bao Nguyen released the following statement today regarding the employment of Mayor Bruce Broadwater’s son with the Garden Grove Fire Department:

Recent reports regarding the criminal record and dangerously poor performance of Mayor Bruce Broadwater’s son are deeply troubling. Nepotism should have no place at City Hall, especially when public safety is involved. Mayor Broadwater owes the public an explanation and his silence on this issue is especially disappointing. Continue reading→